I work as a veterinary technician I only make a couple dollars over minimum wage. the vets at the clinic I work at refuse to hire more people so we’ve been understaffed and people have been forced to work alone taking on two workloads. 2 weeks ago I was working alone since someone called in and during my shift I was attacked by a cat. The cat bit me about 4 times all the way from my hand to my lower arm about 8 puncture wounds and a bunch of scratches.
The bite reached the deepest layer of my skin I could see white, it was swelling quickly and bleeding a lot they told me to rinse it with cold water and spray some alcohol on it which I did… 10 minutes passed and I was still bleeding 15 minutes passed still bleeding and swelling even more. I was crying, I was in shock. 15 minutes I was given to compose myself before the vet told me I needed to cash out a client and he was leaving. He didn’t say a word about my injuries he walked out and went home as soon as he was able to.
I cashed out the client in tears with the cuts still bleeding I should’ve refused but like I said I was in shock I cashed out 3 clients before I got to go home by my own choice. I closed that night and was scheduled in the morning to work open to close (12 hrs). I asked if someone could cover my shift so I can get the bites looked at by a dr but they claimed no one was available. Fast forward to 2 days and surprise surprise it’s infected and the infection spread to my shoulder. I had to be on iv fluids for 2 days and then heavy anti-biotics which I’m still on now.
To make matters worse they didn’t even report the incident they don’t want to pay me for the days I had to take off I looked for jobs while I was home sick but no luck these anti biotics are harsh and have taken a toll on me I have peptic ulcer disease and I was told it was aggravate my ulcers which it has done as my stomach pains have returned. now they’re telling me to come back and I am scheduled to work alone again since someone was unable to come in I want to quit so bad but I have bills and I’m paying for school out of pocket so I can’t afford to be without a job I’m 2 seconds away from texting them and telling them I quit but I keep thinking about my bills.
Sorry for the long rant just so frustrated